Cold front breaks heat wave, brings storms

By the CNN Wire Staff

Updated 2:00 PM ET, Mon July 9, 2012

Photos: Extreme heat strikes U.S.24 photos

Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Fatima Domingpe applies sunscreen to her face near the Mosaic Fountain in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland, on Saturday, July 7. A record heat wave has been in the area for more than a week.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Ten-year-old Lilly Hwang-Geddes, left, of Ithaca, New York, plays in a fountain at the Yards Park on Thursday, July 5, in Washington.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Six-year-old Spencer Hwang-Geddes of Ithaca, New York, cools off at the Yards Park on Thursday. Weather forecast predicted the hot weather will last through Sunday with possible daily triple-digit temperatures.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – A boy enjoys the waterfall in the Yards Park fountain on Thursday.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Chilren play in the fountain away form Thursday's scorching temperatires at the Yards Park.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Shannon Mack and Bobby Rush keep cool with their dog, Bubba, in a pool at their apartment in Chicago on Wednesday.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Keshyra Pitts, 7, plays in the spray of a hydrant in Chicago on Wednesday.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Lori Bryant holds her 7-month-old nephew Justin Tackett as Marianne Oliver cools him down during the Fourth of July parade in Downers Grove, Illinois.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Residents find relief from the heat at the McCarren Park pool in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday, July 3.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Abbi Buck, of Cookeville, Tennessee, gulps a bottle of water as sweat drips down her face as she visits the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Tuesday.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Katie Kiang finds shelter from the heat to study for the Graduate Record Examinations inside an air-conditioned mall in Silver Spring, Maryland, on Monday. Kiang's home is one of the thousands without electricity after storms hit hard.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Gene Holmes splashes into a quarry lake after jumping from a rope swing on Monday, July 2, at the Beaver Dam Swimming Club in Cockeysville, Maryland.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Without electricity to operate the pumps at his gas station in Silver Spring, Maryland, Ken Duckson fills a cooler with ice he cannot sell because his cash registers will not work.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Aziz Taylor, 11, plays in a water fountain Monday in the Capitol Heights neighborhood of Washington.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Lifeguard Niko Garcia jumps into a pool in Washington on Monday to try and beat the heat wave gripping the nation.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – A boy plays in a water fountain in Washington on Sunday, July 1, amid a record-setting heatwave in the eastern United States.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Bryan Moran sprays his dog, Rocky, with water in Washington's Columbia Heights on Sunday. Eastern cities were forecast to approach or break record-high temperatures.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Linda Gordon, right, finds relief from the extreme heat with an ice pack in Memphis, Tennessee, on Saturday, June 30.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Residents crowd onto the beach at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York, in the powerful heat on Saturday.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Beachgoers lie in the sun at Coney Island on Saturday.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – A boy plays in the ocean at Coney Island on Saturday.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Workers brave the high heat to repair a storm-damaged roof at the Park Tanglewood apartments in Riverdale, Maryland, on Saturday.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Beads of sweat roll down Francisco Hernandez's face as he works to repave Hillsborough Street in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday, June 29.

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Extreme heat strikes U.S. – Children play in the water at Six Flags Over Georgia in Atlanta, where temperatures topped 100 degrees on Friday.

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Story highlights

More than 160,000 customers are out of power Sunday night

The Virginia governor asks residents for their patience

While temperatures cool in the East, forecasters see the Southwest heating up

The cold front will continue moving south through Tuesday

The relief was short lived.

A cold front that pushed through the Midwest and Northeast on Sunday, finally breaking a stubborn heat wave, brought with it fresh storms -- complicating recovery efforts in some places and causing even more damage.

"It has been a tough few weeks for many Virginians. They have suffered from record breaking temperatures and an historic storm that brought widespread damage and power outages. Now, many have lost power again. I ask Virginians to remain patient and to continue to help each other get through this latest storm," Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said late Sunday.

Including Virginia, more than 160,000 customers in nine states and the District of Columbia remained without power. Some have lacked electricity for more than a week.

The hardest-hit state continues to be West Virginia, where almost 70,000 customers had no power Sunday night. Because utility companies typically define each residential and business account as a customer, the actual number of people affected was higher.

The heat wave that roasted much of the country for more than a week left scores dead and millions without power at one point -- many of them following a round of severe storms that swept the Mid-Atlantic states on June 29.

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Couple pleads for utility's help

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How long will high temps last?

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How long will high temps last?02:05

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Dog days of summer 8 photos

Dog days of summer8 photos

Dog days of summer – It's 100 degrees outside (or worse). How's a fur-covered pup to cope? CNN iReporters from around the United States have been sharing photos of their best friends cooling off, and let's face it: They're too cute not to post.Here, Prim the Afghan hound manages to look elegant while relaxing in a baby pool in Gahanna, Ohio.

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Dog days of summer8 photos

Dog days of summer – Beautiful standard poodle Gracie has water up to her shoulders in her family's above-ground backyard pool in Barberton, Ohio.

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Dog days of summer – Dexter, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, decides it's too hot even to swim in Constant Lake in Ontario, Canada.

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Dog days of summer – Four-month-old German shepherd Zhik naps on a float in his family's pool in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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Dog days of summer – Sierra's family says they can't keep her out of their Loxahatchee, Florida, pool. Here, the sopping wet yellow lab takes a rest on a float.

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Dog days of summer8 photos

Dog days of summer – Flossy, a 5-year-old Maltese, captains a boat raft off the shores of Destin, Florida.

Dog days of summer – It's not just American dogs that need to cool off. Sandro Capannolo spotted this pup taking a dip in a fountain in Rome. And Istvan Szemes of Hungary shared a video of his German shepherd gleefully splashing around in a baby pool.Is it unbearably hot where you are? Show us how you -- and your pets -- are staying cool.

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EXPAND GALLERY

And more hot weather may be on the horizon.

The National Weather Service has issued excessive heat warnings for parts of Arizona and California starting Monday, predicting temperatures in the range of 110-115 degrees.

"The combination of hot afternoon temperatures and very warm overnight lows will result in oppressive conditions," the weather service said.

Early Sunday, heat advisories, watches and warnings were posted for portions of 11 states -- less than half the number of states that have seen them the last few days, said CNN meteorologist Sarah Dillingham.

The cold front will reduce temperatures into the 80s for Chicago, New York and Washington, and into the 90s for St. Louis by Monday, she said. It will continue moving south through Monday and Tuesday, CNN meteorologist Alexandra Steele said.

One person died and a second was injured in the east-central Missouri town of Cuba on Saturday in storms, according to the weather service's Storm Prediction Center. Damage including building collapses, vehicle rollovers and downed power lines were reported, the center said. Another injury was reported Saturday in Mifflinburg, Pennsyvlania, officials said.

Nationwide, there have been more than 4,500 daily record highs in the last 30 days, according to the National Climatic Data Center.

Temperatures topped 100 degrees Saturday in a swath stretching from south-central Iowa to the Chicago area to Louisville, Kentucky, to Virginia, the weather service said. A high of 105 in Washington on Saturday marked the second-hottest day on record for the city and the 10th straight day of temperatures above 95.

Saturday's death in Cuba, Missouri, came as debris struck a woman's car in a grocery store parking lot during a severe storm, CNN affiliate KMOV reported.

A 4-month-old girl in Greenfield, Indiana, died Saturday after being left in a car for an "extended period of time," police Chief John Jester said. While it wasn't clear how hot it had been inside the car, temperatures in that community of 20,000 people reached 103 degrees. Greenfield is about 25 miles west of Indianapolis.

The baby's grandfather found the young girl and rushed her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Her father, Joshua Stryzinski, was later arrested and charged with neglect of a dependent, resulting in death. Jester said that charge may change after detectives meet with prosecutors.

About 25 miles northwest, in the town of Fishers, Meg E. Trueblood was arrested Saturday for felony neglect of a dependent after her 16-month-old unattended daughter was pulled from a car at a shopping center, police said.

The temperature inside the vehicle reached 124 degrees, and the baby was inside for about an hour, said police spokesman Tom Weger. An officer broke a window to reach the child.

The girl was upgraded to stable condition Saturday night, and was released from the hospital Sunday to her grandmother, Weger said Sunday.